For a couple years I was hoping for a crappie jig to come along that would offer better hooking as well as a more forward tie-on point to make swimming baits look more like they are swimming instead of hopping like the 90 degree bend hooks are stuck with. Lots of things seemed to get in the way until recently when I was digging thru my box of old molds that don't see much use anymore. The one that caught my eye has 4 each of 1/32 and 1/16 cavities, collar-less. I thought what the heck, I can do something with the right hooks.
That got me paging thru Do-It's catalog and I found the wacky hook, a black nickel hook with a way forward eye. The hook is also a wide gap style of hook and it just so happened to come in size 6 which is what I wanted to work with. I ordered a few of them just to see what the outcome would be. I had the house to myself this afternoon and sat down with the old mold and new hooks and went to work in the 1/32 cavities. The picture shows the results and right now I could not be happier.
The top jig has the conventional 90 degree leg, the others have the wacky hook. Best seen on the blue head to the left, the eye is well forward of what the traditional jig has and on when used with swimming type baits or those cast and retrieved without any float the action is uncanny. I know this because as soon as I took this picture I grabbed a rod and waded thru 30 some inches of snow to make a bunch of casts, first using the 90 degree jig, then the newly developed one. No fish but I sure was able to fall in love with this heads" action using the small fry [1.75"] shown.
